Field of the Disclosure
The present application relates to surgical robots and associated guidance systems and, more particularly, to a guided surgical robot system used, for example, in dental surgery, wherein the system is also configured to facilitate pre-procedure planning and data collection, as well as to prepare implements and other apparatuses for use in the surgical procedure.
Description of Related Art
A dental implant procedure involves several aspects: making the diagnosis, planning the position of the implant, surgically milling the anatomy and placing the implant (i.e., an anchoring post), and then attaching the abutment and crown (i.e., prosthetic tooth/teeth). Some existing systems may include provisions for planning and executing one or more aspects of such a surgical procedure. However, the formation/creation of the crown portion of the dental implant is often conducted by a separate system and in a separate operation. For example, some systems may require a surgeon to first develop a surgical plan, via software, which may involve, for instance, a drilling operation. In such instances, when the plan is finalized, an outside vendor or laboratory is likely retained to form a drill guide for intra-operative use, according to the surgical plan. In such instances, the crown(s) are likely produced/milled by the same vendor/lab, but the milling machines for making such crowns are separate and discrete from the surgical procedure itself.
Some surgical systems, such as dental implantation surgical systems, may implement planning of the surgical procedure based on non-invasive imaging of the planned surgical site (i.e., via a CT scan). The result of the plan, namely the collected image(s) of the surgical site or patient anatomy, can thus be used, for example, for diagnosis, for manufacturing a drill guide, or for guiding haptic or autonomous robotic systems. However, in some instances, the CT image (or the MRI image or other reference image used for surgical planning purposes) may not include all of the necessary information for allowing sound clinical judgment, or the patient's anatomy may change in the time between the imaging procedure and the actual surgical procedure.
As such, it may be desirable to provide a more integrated surgical system and method having the capability of performing more and different aspects of the intended surgical procedure, in relation to a known reference in relation to the patient. Further, it may also be desirable for such a system and method to be capable of providing real-time feedback and real-time plan update functionality while live on a patient and/or during the surgical procedure itself.